In Full Swing

A droll little man in his 70s sips a beer and watches the crowd. Pretty soon, he approaches a twentysomething woman with a tattoo peeking out from under the strap of her 1940s cocktail dress. This unlikely couple takes to the dance floor, where they proceed to redefine swing for the ‘90s.

It’s like this every Wednesday night at the Derby, the Los Feliz night club that reopened a year ago, restored to its original splendor. And along with the domed ceiling, the velvet-curtained booths and the curved bar, a certain atmosphere has been revived as well.

The most accomplished dancers have a signature style--vintage dresses cut off at mid-thigh to show a little garter, zoot suits, suspenders and shoulder holster wallets.

Here the re-emergence of swing is more than just another retro phenomenon. It’s as if the same youth culture that reacted to the inanity of the ‘70s and ‘80s with slam dancing and stage diving has decided to take control of the warlike ‘90s with style, skill and passion.

It seems only fitting that the music and dance styles of the Depression and World War II years would have particular resonance in this era of riots, fires, floods and quakes. The result is less youthful anomie than a kind of carnal optimism.

Naomi Des Pres, resplendent in vintage black crepe, is here for the second time.

“This may sound really cheesy, but I think people really want to get out and have good clean fun. It’s not about anger or aggression. It’s romance, trying to capture some glamour,” Des Pres says.

Wednesday night’s seven-piece band, the Royal Crown Revue, plays a signature brand of swing--about half their songs are original.

Singer Eddie Nichols is all hard-boiled romance--he’s pug-ugly handsome, with a custom-tailored zoot suit and attitude to match. He grew up in Manhattan and explains his move to L.A. with an oblique shrug: “I was 17, I was starving and my mom lived in San Diego, so I came out.”

Swing was mysterious, Nichols says: “I started out with rockabilly, but I kept digging back and found that there was more substance. I ate it up.”

In 1989, Nichols started the Royal Crown Revue.

“Frankly, it used to sound like a stripper band. It used to be a three-ring circus show. I did splits and spins. We didn’t know how to play. The reason it comes off well now is that we had to completely reinvent swing. We gave it an extra kick.”

Almost every number works up to a hard-driving ecstasy, something like the energy occasionally achieved by Harry James. Remember “One O’clock Jump”? Even the ever-sultry standard “Stormy Weather” whips itself into a hurricane of horns as dancers lunge and swirl.

Dancerly prowess is the only social criterion. Black, white, Latino, young and old swap partners all night long.

“It’s very eclectic,” says Tony Gower, co-owner of the Derby with his former wife, Tammi Gower. “It’s fun to see old people sitting at the bar telling youngsters what Hollywood was like in the good old days,” he says.

“The Derby brings out a lot of unexpected emotions in people,” Tammi Gower concurs. “We wanted it to be friendly, to be the kind of place where people in the neighborhood would also hang out. You can come here (and) hear music. We have no door policy; we don’t pick and choose.”

The spectacle of so many couples expertly cutting a rug need not intimidate the curious. The Derby offers free swing dance lessons prior to the show.

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Where: The Derby, 4500 Los Feliz Blvd.; (213) 663-8979.

When: Wednesdays, 10 p.m.-1 a.m.; dance lessons, 8-9 p.m.

Cost: Cover charge, $5 after 9 p.m.; beer, $3.50; well drinks, $4. Dinner entrees about $10. (Dinner is served by neighboring Louise’s Trattoria.)